Reports, not proofs
Around many of the Japanese martyrdoms, witnesses reported things they took as signs from God.After the deaths at Nagasaki (長崎) in 1597, a later commentator warned that judgement on such miracles belongs to Rome.According to one account, the vicar general of the diocese of China held a formal legal inquiry at Macao, and another was held in Manila.In October 1598 more than fifty witnesses of Kyoto (京都) and Nagasaki were examined under oath by the bishop.Other wonders were recorded from sworn statements in later church processes.
Some reports were weighed and set aside.A Japanese named Xoia Cosimo was shown to have spread falsehoods about the twenty-six martyrs of 1597, and a Jesuit history declined to repeat the miracles he and two others had spread.A learned man in Rome warned that serious testimony had undermined several stories, among them bodies kept from decay for months and lights seen above the crosses at night.Whether the bodies of 1597 stayed incorrupt was later disputed.Another account notes that such marvels formed part of the case for canonization.
Signs before the persecutions
Christians remembered earthquakes, a comet and strange rains as signs of the persecutions to come.In 1586 an earthquake felt for forty days was reported to have ruined houses and a great temple in Kyoto and Sakai (堺).On July 22, 1596, the feast of St Mary Magdalene, ash and blood-red earth were said to have fallen on the capital and nearby cities, and Christians took it as a sign of the martyrs' blood to come.A comet was reported in the summer of 1596, and Japanese Christians were said to have cried out at the sight.Great earthquakes followed in September in Kyoto, Fushimi, Osaka and Sakai.The missionaries' churches and convents were reported to have stood unharmed.
Crosses were also reported inside trees.At Obama (小浜) in Arima (有馬) in 1589 a cross was reported in the wood of a tree, and Arima Harunobu said it meant either that all Japan would become Christian or that all the priests would be crucified.On December 6, 1611, the farmer Fabian of Imazumi in Ōmura (大村) was said to have split a dead persimmon log and found a black cross, perfectly formed, in the white wood.Crowds came, and healings were reported.At Yatsushiro (八代) in 1599, children and then crowds said they saw the cemetery cross shining with rays, day and night, and pilgrims came even from Arima across the sea.
Lights over the places of death
Many reports told of light seen over the places of martyrdom.After the crucifixions of 1597 at Nagasaki, it was said that three great rays like columns of fire came down on the crosses on the first Friday night, and that the middle one settled after two hours on the Jesuit church.On Friday, March 14, a column of fire was reported at midday that split into three and gave off sparks like stars.
At Yatsushiro in 1603, about thirty soldiers guarding the house of Simon Takeda reported a light over it at his death.Other trustworthy people said they saw a bright light over the four crucified at the moment of death, though no formal inquiry could be made.After the burning of Michael, Lina and Majencia in 1614, star-like lights were reported for more than thirty nights over the place and over the river where their ashes were thrown.In Bungo (豊後), it was said that the faithful gathered bones the guards had missed by the light of three bright stars.
Similar reports came from other parts of Japan, among them Shimabara (島原).Guards left with the bodies of 32 martyrs at Kubota (久保田) testified to a great light over them at dusk, and people of a nearby village watched from their roofs.At Morioka (盛岡) two lights were said to have come down over the heads of Matthias and Magdalena, and the governor forbade anyone to speak of it.On the third night after the drownings of February 21, 1627, Christians and pagans at Shimabara reported lights hanging in the air over the spot.The lord, Bungodono, was said to have called them the souls watching their bodies.
After the Great Martyrdom at Nagasaki, the Portuguese knight Manuel de Sousa swore that he and his roommate Simão Pais watched a light over the execution place for more than two hours, and again the next night.He also passed on a rumour from the guards that the martyrs had risen in procession with torches, Fr Carlo Spinola's the brightest.He gave it as hearsay.
Voices and bodies
Several witnesses said that severed heads spoke.Pagans at the execution of Adam Arakawa in Amakusa (天草) in 1614 claimed his head twice pronounced the name of Jesus.A leading official there said this alone was a sermon to make one a Christian.At Akizuki (秋月) in March 1614 the head of the martyr Matthias was said to have called on Jesus three times.Bystanders at the beheading of the samurai Paulo Shimaya and his brother Juan on August 7, 1618, claimed to hear the heads still say "Jesus".When Simón Iwami was beheaded on July 27, 1624, the pagan executioner said the body stayed kneeling.
When the Jesuit Fr Thomas Tsuji was burned alive at Nagasaki on September 7, 1627, Luis Martinez de Figueiredo and other Europeans and Japanese testified on oath to what they saw.They said his chest stayed whole in the fire and then opened, and "a flame leapt out, three palms high, clear and beautiful" (translated).It was also said that the bodies of the priests Fernandes and Saito, carried to the fire in 1633, greeted each other, each in his own language.
Some bodies were reported unharmed or whole.Birds of prey were said not to have touched the martyrs of 1597.The body of Tomaso, a martyr of eighteen months buried in quicklime in Buzen, was reported to have been found whole after six months, which was taken as a miracle.An Italian soldier was said to have caught the blood of four of the 1597 martyrs in his hat, and nine months later it was reported to be still liquid when the jar was broken before priests and a physician.
Comfort in prison and torture
Many reports came from the martyrs themselves, who told of comfort given to them in prison and under torture.Exposed to the burning sun after the water torture, Nakashima wrote that he prayed and a shadow formed only over the place where he lay, with a cool breeze.John Magosuchi said that under the water torture he saw Christ on the cross so close that the water seemed to flow from it.Leonard said that on the rack he saw his dead wife Magdalena beside him with a lighted torch, urging him to keep faith.
Others spoke of being fed.Michael Ishida, who lived 51 days after his torture, said that two beautiful boys gave him a heavenly drink, and he took nothing more.It was reported that a cup of water was found at the bottom of a martyr's pit after his death, and that the Queen of Angels had given it to him.A Jesuit history said it found no proof for the further story that she lifted him out or that a spring gushed there.
What is uncertain
Where the sources disagree
- Incorruption of the 1597 bodies. the report to Urban VIII gives bodies preserved six months, and Charlevoix himself reports forty days of freshness; yet Charlevoix also says inquiries found the forty days false, which Bouix answers by noting that Charlevoix gives no source;Bartoli explains the preservation by the cold winter; the Bollandists printed a warning that testimony had undermined several miracles.
- The 1596 comet. Medina dates it August 15;Ribadeneira puts it on St Mary Magdalene's day.
- Fr Thomas Tsuji's flame. the witnesses are said to have spoken of the time of two Creeds or three Creeds; another summary says over five minutes.
- Fernandes and Saito. Profillet gives two versions, speaking in the fire or rising and embracing;Charlevoix gives one, attested by Christians and pagans.
- The tiger at Morioka. Peña says it would not touch Magdalena's flesh for three days;Bartoli says it fled into its den for three days and the flesh was then buried.
- The vial of blood. Ribadeneira says he broke it himself before two Dominicans and one Jesuit;Charlevoix and Bouix say the vicar general had it broken before one Dominican and two Jesuits.
- The 1597 columns of fire. three in Bouix and Charlevoix, two in Boero.
- The burning of 1614. Bartoli names Michele, Lino and Massenzia and dates it April 1614;Peña names Lina, Miguel and Majencia and dates it July 13, 1614.
- Two similar stories of a tortured Michael fed by two beautiful boys appear, one from sworn testimony (51 days) and one in Charlevoix (50 days).